10 Things I learned from a Marathon

Nothing like a bit of fear to make things become clear! Here are 10 things I learned from running my first marathon. I hope it leaves you inspired and ready to take on whatever challenges come your way.

10 things I learned from a marathon

1. You are capable of a lot more than you think you are.

2. You will never feel 100% certain of anything worth doing; there will always be an element of doubt and fear.

3. The bigger your fear of something, the sooner you better do it – or at least point at it and say you’re not as scary as I first thought.

4. Your mind is incredibly powerful; it decides what you can or cannot achieve.

5. If you tell yourself you’re no good, your body will act accordingly, so pipe down your internal critic. What it is giving you is an opinion, not the reality.

6. You decide how stressful a situation is ultimately going to be for you. It’s ok if it gets too much, but it’s important to get back up again rather than stay down inspecting your wounds.

7. You are a holy temple of the Spirit of God – God doesn’t need you to feel particularly aware of this fact, or look like it or feel like it. He/She does need you to believe it a little bit to see results.

8. Your body is not the most important part of you – it is a vessel through which your spirit and God’s spirit get things done in the world. Look after it, but know it's not your defining feature, the most important essence of you is unseen.

9. Your weakest parts of yourself, mental, physical, spiritual, can be, will be and are being transformed into your greatest strengths. It's uncanny. No suffering that you've been through is wasted.

10. The more impossible a thing looks in common sense terms and the higher the odds are stacked against you, the more powerfully God can work and amaze you with his reliability. You do your little bit, God does his big bit, just trust him as much as your mind will allow you to. You will never be let down in the long term (even if God seems to be throwing a massive spanner in the works in the short term).

SPEAK is a network of students and young adults who campaign and pray on issues of justice.
This network is supported by a charitable trust which supplies justice education, training events and resources: SPEAK Network, Events, Support & Training Registered Charity no. 1112979.
The network is also supported by a company, which does further awareness raising campaigns: SPEAK Network Ltd. Registered in England & Wales no. 3922047.